Ron Artest says European leagues should allow more American players

“They need to let more Americans play in the European leagues,” Artest said. “There are only like two [Americans] to a team while Europeans can come to America [and play in the NBA] like the whole San Antonio Spurs team — a whole American team can be full of Europeans. Europe has to be a little more fair to the American players.

“You see a lot of foreign players come over to America to play in the NBA. It’s not fair that a lot of American players can’t come to China or can’t come to Europe to play with as many players as they want, so there’s no balance … They should just make it more even.” …

Some countries such as Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria have no limits on the number of non-European players allowed on each team, but the major leagues in Spain and Greece allow a maximum of two non-Europeans per squad. In the United Kingdom, the maximum is three.

A recent trend has shown American-born players who are able to acquire dual citizenship because of their ancestry — such as former Florida Gators guard and 2009 Timberwolves second-round draft pick Nick Calathes — becoming more valuable to executives looking to fill out a European roster because they do not count against the non-European player limit. Calathes plays for Panathinaikos Athens, a perennial Euroleague champion, and has a Greek passport.